Sa mundo nila kung saan wala ng gustong maging responsable, lahat ng tao’y may kalayaang lumayas. Nilalayuan ni Martin ang kaniyang mga responsibilidad bilang ama, at si Rosa’y tinatakbuhan ang mga taong nanakit ng damdamin niya. Ang dahilan ni Mimi ay hindi niya maramdaman ang pagmamahal ng pamilya, at si Jose naman, ayaw na niyang manilbihan sa lugar na walang integridad. Si Lito at si Tina, nagtanan papunta sa malayong lugar sa dahilang hindi sila matanggap ng kanilang mga magulang. Samantalang hinihingal at patagong umalis si Rolando mula kanilang bahay, dahil hindi na niyang mahalin ang mga tao roon. Lahat ay may tinatakbuhan, may nilalayasan – ito ang pumasok sa isip ng batang si Ulap habang siya ang tumatakas din mula sa kanilang tirahan para hanapin ang kaniyang ama. Ngunit nang may nakasalubong siyang pabalik na tilang may tingin na pagsisisi at humihingi ng patawad, may pumasok muli sa isip niya: babalik din kami sa aming pinanggalingan kung hindi namin haharapin ang dapat harapin ngayon din. Tanan, ano ang inyong nilalayasan?

Translation: In their world where no one wants to be responsible anymore, everybody is free to run away from something. Martin pushes himself farther from his responsibilities as a father, and Rosa runs off from the people who hurt her feelings. Mimi’s reason is that she couldn’t feel that her family loved her, while Jose did not want to serve in a place anymore that had no integrity. Lito and Tina eloped to a faraway place, because their parents could not accept their relationship. Meanwhile, Rolando breathes heavily while running away in secret from his house, because he couldn’t love the people he lived with anymore. Everybody’s running away from something – this is what a child named Ulap thought when she too was leaving. But along the road, she meets someone who is returning, and he had a look of regret and wanting forgiveness. This gave her a thought: someday, we would still return to what we’re running away from if we do not face what we need to face today. What are you running away from, everyone?

This was my submission to Ang Ilustrador ng Kabataan 2018 catalogue.